Fire Recovery Resources For Landowners
.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&w=2000&h=2000&fit=max&or=0&s=70a13d66681ec1154c7d8838570ef4ae)
Fire can bring tragedy. But forests can renew themselves, and together we can help them. Park Fire-related resources will be added below as they become available.
EROSION CONTROL
If you're handy with a chainsaw, contour-felling your dead trees can sometimes be your best and cheapest bet for erosion control. Put your # of dead trees and their diameter into this cool storage capacity chart and find out how many cubic yards or TONS of soil your burned logs could be stopping! Download it:
Storage capacity reference for contour log felling by Peter Robichaud, from USFS Burned Area Emergency Response treatment guide (publication 0625 1801).Learn how to properly install wattles (see picture at right) to prevent erosion:
How to install wattles- printer-friendly download link. (Or, scroll down to read the guide online)Often, the best thing to do after a fire is nothing. If grass is already germinating, don’t bother seeding. Unless you see an active erosion problem, try not to disturb the soil – even hydrophobic soil. Staying off burned land is usually the best way to let it heal. If an area is too bare, spreading loose rice straw is good because unlike most hay, it contains no weed seeds. Burned standing trees should be left to fall on their own if they don’t threaten life or property -- they're amazing habitat, and the anmals need it. Straw wattles are meant to slow overland (sheet) flows, NOT to be staked across creeks, rills, or culverts.
REPLANTING TREES AND ACORNS
Before you make big replanting plans, we recommend watching the land for a couple years to see what regrows! When you're ready to plant, if you're in Paradise or Magalia, we have a special replanting page just for you. The following resources are for EVERYONE regardless where you live....
How to tell if burned conifers will survive (article from CAL FIRE)How to tell if burned oaks will survive (article from UC Extension)Quick 1-page guide to planting acorns in a burned areaLonger 3-page "Acorn To An Oak" guide from CNPS also covers collection and storage of acornsLocally produced video on how and why to plant blue oaks - 21 minutes. Stars the oaks... but also BCRCD's Wolfy Rougle, Mechoopda tribal knowledge keeper Ali Meders-Knight, and local seed expert Raphael DiGenova.
2-page guide: How To Plant Baby Oaks (plus redbud, elderberry, and other native hardwood seedlings)2 page guide: How To Plant Baby Conifers (Focuses on Paradise Ridge & how to comply with Town defensible space ordinance)UC guide for forest landowners on helping land renew itself after a fire
SHOULD I PLANT WILDFLOWER SEED?
Honestly, maybe not? To learn more, download this free, full-color 92-page fire recovery handbook from the California Native Plant Society.
DEALING WITH INVASIVE SPECIES
Getting a handle on BROOM, an invasive plant that loves intense fires - and fuels them :(
PRESCRIBED FIRE
Interested in "good fire"? Join the Butte Prescribed Burn Association (PBA) to get free trainings. You can "learn fire"! Come share tools and tamales with other landowners looking to put good fire on their land.
GIVE THE GIFT OF TREES? If you'd like to support BCRCD's reforestation work with a tax-deducatible donation, click here to give to the BCRCD Tree Planting Fund, a 501(c)3 charity under the care of the North Valley Community Foundation. If you choose, you can make your gift in honor or in memory of someone. Planting a tree is a great way to show someone how much they mean to you.
